


Memorial

by SrebrnaFH



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Funeral, canon character death, memorial service
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 01:16:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20537774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SrebrnaFH/pseuds/SrebrnaFH
Summary: People will know and remember Natasha.





	Memorial

“She was my best friend. She was--” his voice broke and he looked up, as if searching for some consolation in the cloudless sky above him. “She was the most aggravating, annoying, self-sacrificing idiot I’ve ever known. I loved her -- I love her still -- like a sister. She _was_ my sister. She--”

The crowd stood silent, waiting for him to finish.

They were all there to honour the passing of one person who had consciously, willingly and without any hope of recovery, sacrificed her life.

_Santa Natalia_, kids called her now in secret.

_Auntie Nat, watch over me,_ said girls walking home alone in the evenings.

_Natasha Romanov, gone but not forgotten_, claimed murals, in some places easily competing with ones made of Iron Man.

Her eyes, her smile, her curls, her signature black. Everywhere. Graffiti of small black spiders with a dot of red. Figurines. New Barbie line -- on one hand, decried by critics as blatant commercialisation of a war hero, on the other, badly reviewed for idolising a war criminal -- sold in thousands. Every girl, big or small, wanted to have a Natasha doll that year. Authorised (supposedly) biography. Unauthorised biography. Several books full of pure lies. Three very successful novelisations of her life, mostly focusing on the more lurid and bedroom-related exploits of international spycraft.

Sixteen offers of a “fact-based” movie (all taken care of by SI’s team of lawyers).

Natalia became the second most popular name given to girls born in 2023, worldwide. Natasha was on the sixth place and Natalie on the tenth.

Nathaniel was on the third for boys.

He looked at their faces. All watching him. Waiting for him.

All eyes at him.

His breath hitched.

That was all that he saw, ever since, when he closed his eyes.

Her wide, teary green eyes, boring straight into his as she fell away from the cliff, into the abyss, giving her life so that trillions of others could live.

“I had been once sent to kill her, but I ignored the order. And now she is dead anyway, and I’ve been there to witness it. I hope someone can make sense of it, but I can’t. I can’t make sense of her death. I’ve lost my best friend and there is a hole in my soul that will never be filled.”

He chewed his lip and finally nodded.

“Natasha was the very best of us. And today, we honour her memory.”

There was just one grave marker on the plot at the edge of the Bartons’ land. No body, no ashes. No coffin, no urn.

Just a simple headstone. Name. Dates – three of them.

“Natasha Romanov. _Natalija_. We thank you for your sacrifice.”


End file.
